Monday, March 31, 2014

{sarcasm}One of the things I love about rock 'n' roll is the sheer truth and profundity in the lyrics. Case in point:

People come, people goSome grow young, some grow coldI woke up in betweenA memory and a dreamSo let's get to the point, let's roll another jointLet's head on down the roadThere's somewhere I gotta goAnd you don't know how it feelsYou don't know how it feels to be me

Brilliant, Tom! That's right up there with "Louie Louie." Nice video, though.{/sarcasm}In other news... we're out on the verandah at an early hour today, mainly coz it's really nice outside. Like this:

Gordie Howe turns 86 today. That's the good news. The bad news is he's battling dementia and we all know that's a losing fight. Helene St. James, hockey writer for the Detroit Free Press, has a great article celebrating Mr. Hockey on his birthday. An excerpt:

Gordie Howe never was one to sit around, and that hasn’t changed even
as dementia roils his health. He turns 86 today, an event that will
appropriately be celebrated in Detroit, because no city ever has
celebrated Howe more. He reigned here as a local hockey folk hero for
three decades, defining what it meant to be talented and tough.

Howe
doesn’t come to Detroit a whole lot any more, because he cannot be on
his own. He has spent the past four months in Lubbock, Texas — staying
with his daughter, Cathy, and her husband, Bob — escaping the harsh
winter that would have impeded his physical activity. The man who six
decades ago dominated opponents in hockey remains a man who doesn’t like
to be still.

I never got to see Gordie play... except on The Tube o' You... but I have a special kind of love for the man, like Wings fans, hockey fans, and most all Detroiters do.Happy Birthday, Mr. Howe.

I spent a bit of time in the car this weekend and I listened to a lot more NPR than I usually do, including this lil gem from the TED Radio Hour. If you chase the link you'll see the show was all about misconceptions, specifically five snippets from TED Talks about various and sundry things we think are true but in reality aren't true at all. All in all, a very entertaining hour but the show left me wanting to hear more of Mr. Barry Schwartz's dissertation on freedom of choice in these United States. So it was off to the TED Talks web site (their embed code doesn't work) The Tube o' You (YouTube's code ALWAYS works) to retrieve this...My takeaway quote from the talk? "The secret to happiness is low expectations." Like this:

That's a screenshot... paused... from Mr. Schwartz's talk to illustrate his point. Somehow or other I've always known this but never articulated the concept in that manner. Watch the whole thing.

Thursday, March 27, 2014

One (or more) of these...I was gonna record my own Nitro slam-pour but I thought "somebody else HAS to have done this." Yup... more than a few somebodies, actually. You can't do this with very many beers unless you want a world-class mess on your hands. It sure is fun to do with Left Hand's Nitro, though.Excuse me, but I think I hear beer calling my name.

Added, somewhat later:

Why, yes. Yes, we HAVE been sampling all those various and sundry pour videos. I like this one coz you can see the swirly nitrogen bubbles in the beer after it's poured and also coz it's from the brewery. Who would give better instructions than the guys that make it?

Courtesy of HMS Defiant, a look at New Mexico's diversity with my county highlighted. Roosevelt county just ain't very diverse, but we ARE underpopulated as compared to most other parts of these United States (I think that's a good thing).

The beauty of this map is you can get down almost to street level... it could be a real time-sink for those of us caught up in minutia. Go here to see the whole thing (subscription may be required if you've used up your monthly quota of ten free New York Times articles).

Well, that might could be ONE o' my theme songs but it'll do for today. And now it's back out to the verandah to continue as we've begun. And yeah, just to clarify matters... we kicked off Happy Hour slightly early today, mainly because we CAN.

Tuesday, March 25, 2014

We made a re-supply run out to Cannon Airplane Patch earlier today... for booze and victuals... and as we browsed the available beers at the Class VI store we noticed this on the shelves:

That would be a New Belgium Spring Blonde Belgian style ale so... but, of course... we had to pick up a sixer of this new to us... and the rest o' the world, too... brew, whereupon we placed it in the fridge immediately upon our return to base. It's cool enough to drink and now that we're half-way through the first bottle I have to say we're impressed. This beer will make a nice session beer, in that it goes down most easily and has a light-on-the-palate, slightly sweet and flowery sort of taste. I like it on first blush and predict we'll run a few more sixers of this brew through El Casa Inmóvil De Pennington... while it lasts.In other news... we tried to take Happy Hour on the verandah today but... alas. It's just too damned fresh outdoors at the moment to make such activities comfortable and appealing. We were supposed to hit 65 degrees today but we're only at 58 degrees as we speak, and this under cloudy skies with a fresh breeze. So it was back indoors to continue as we've begun. No matter... it's ALL good.

President
Barack Obama, who is in Europe for the Nuclear Security Summit, met with
leaders of the G-7 (the US, United Kingdom, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, and
Japan) in the Netherlands Monday to discuss the situation in Ukraine. The seven
nations, along with the Presidents of the European Union and the European
Commission, expressed continuing support for the country through what is being
called The
Hague Declaration. The document denounces Russia's illegal annexation of
Crimea and once again makes a plea for a diplomatic solution. However, it also
reaffirms that there will be "significant consequences" for Russia's actions.
"This group came together because of shared beliefs and shared
responsibilities," states the declaration. "Russia's actions in recent weeks
are not consistent with them. Under these circumstances, we will not
participate in the planned Sochi Summit. We will suspend our participation in
the G-8 until Russia changes course and the environment comes back to [one] where the
G-8 is able to have a meaningful discussion … "

And this:

James: Air Force Ready to "Step Up" in Ukraine if Asked

Air
Force Secretary Deborah Lee James said the Air Force is "ready to step up to
the plate" in Ukraine if it's asked, noting the service already has "kicked it
up a notch with respect to some of
our training, particularly
with Poland and the Baltic policing mission." Speaking
toStars and
Stripes at Ramstein AB, Germany, during her first trip to Europe and
Afghanistan since becoming Secretary, James said the Air Force is able to surge
if necessary. "The situation between Russia and the Ukraine is not currently
affecting our operations here in Europe, in terms of the way we project to
reshape the Air Force in the future and our current operations," she said.

What the Hell does "step up to the plate" mean? I don't like the sound of that at ALL.

I like the looks of this, though:

Air Frame:
Four Air Force Thunderbird F-16 Fighting Falcons zoom by the visitors of the
Lightning in the Desert Air Show March 16, 2014, on Luke AFB, Ariz. The event
was open to the general public to view vintage aircraft and the F-35A Lightning
II. (Air Force photo by SrA. Marcy Copeland)

It's been years and years and years since I've been to an airshow. I saw the Blue Angles (<== not a typo) perform over the San Francisco Bay back in 2000 or mebbe 2001 and that was the last airshow (sorta) I attended.

I also like the looks of this:

My next book or possibly two will be "free." I use the scare-quotes coz that settlement means I overpaid for books I've bought in the past.

Monday, March 24, 2014

A promotional film about Ra-cha-cha, Noo Yawk... made by Rochester Gas and Electric in 1963. Fascinating!A couple of things... I lived in Ra-cha-cha for four wonderful years... 1995 - 1999... and loved almost every minute of it. Why almost? The winters, Gentle Reader, the winters. You'll note there's not a single winter scene in the 27 minute length of the film and there are several good reasons for that... all of 'em having to do with SNOW. Like this:

The second thing? 1963 was the year I (a) graduated from high school and (b) enlisted in the air force. America really WAS like it's portrayed in the film at that time and I'm serious when I say that.

Sunday, March 23, 2014

The title is in reference to the post immediately below, where I take issue with Verizon taking liberties with the language. Which, of course, brought to mind this old chestnut from my blogging way-back. This is the third time I've put this post up, the second being back in 2009.

Friday, April 25, 2008

(OK…
I was saving this post for tomorrow. But My Bud Dan’s comment to the
post immediately below cut me to the quick. He’s right. I’ve been
phoning it in of late. So here’s something that contains a lil bit more
“substance.” Not a lot, mind you…just some.)

Apropos
of not much…but, by way of introduction, this: I’m often struck by the
quality of writing I encounter in my wanderings around these here
inter-tubes. Or, more better, the absolute dismal state of most of the
writing I encounter. Present company excepted, of course. All y’all
write well, for the most part. There are exceptions…and all I can offer
is: “if the shoe fits…” But in most cases it won’t fit. Mainly coz I
have little or no tolerance for poor writing, there being some
exceptions. I’ll leave it at that… criticizing others is not what we’re
on about in this post.

The
Second Mrs. Pennington and I, the both of us being professional writers
(of a sort) and more to the point… she being an English teacher (of a
sort)… used to have this on-going argument discussion
as to whether good writing can be taught, or not. My position has
changed back and forth over the years and still isn’t firmed up to this
very day. On the one hand, the mechanics of writing most certainly can
be taught… which is to say grammar, punctuation, subject-verb agreement,
and the like. Anyone with half a brain can go out and buy a copy of
Strunk and White’s “The Elements of Style,”
study it intently, absorb all the lessons therein, and call himself a
writer. And a lot of people do just that. On the Other Hand… good
grammar and punctuation doesn’t begin to make what we know as “good”
writing. It’s a start, but only a start.

Once
upon a time I considered myself a “good” writer. I’d taken several
undergrad courses in English and composition, I had a fairly extensive
writing background acquired as an additional-duty Public Affairs Officer
(NCO, actually, but the title was “PAO”), and was recognized by various
and sundry Air Force supervisors and such as a “go-to” guy when it came
to putting words on paper. So, it came to pass (in my post-USAF career)
I was assigned to a proposal writing team sometime in 1986 or
thereabouts. And here for your illumination, Gentle Reader, is my very
first effort in this space, as returned “for corrections” by my proposal
editor:

(click for larger, if you have the inclination)

Bloody.
Literally dripping with blood, in the form of the dread red editor’s
pen, and this is but four of 14 pages, all similarly deeply scarred and
dripping red. Including all 14 pages in this post would be overkill, not
to mention boring beyond belief. My draft was returned with a post-it
attached that said “Good Work!” (the post-it has gone missing after all
these years). I scanned my draft, bloody as it was, and immediately went
to my proposal manager/editor and said words to the effect of “You
think this is Good?”… to which she replied “Yeah. I didn’t tell you to
re-write it, did I?” Well, OK, then.

So...
I returned to my desk, made the corrections and re-submitted my draft,
which was accepted without further edits. Things got progressively
better for me (and my editor) as time went on. At the end of the
six-month pursuit cycle I came out a much better writer than when I went
in. My first proposal was a learning experience of the first order.

I
became very, very close to my editor… a woman by the name of Mary who
later went on to become an EDS corporate VP, and I had the delightful
opportunity to work with her on a couple of other proposals while she
was still doing that particular gig. I learned nearly everything I know
about writing today from that woman… lessons that are much too detailed
to repeat here but had a lot… nay, everything… to do with word-choice,
economy of language, what to leave in your writing, and… much more
importantly… what to take out. Another thing Mary emphasized is one
needs to recognize good writing before one can even begin to emulate it.
In other words: good writers are voracious readers. Mary was also of
the opinion that the best writers read a wide variety of “stuff…”
fiction, non-fiction, op-eds, soup cans, cereal boxes, and (she
emphasized) poetry. Mary maintained poets are all about economy of
language, which, to her way of thinking, is the very essence of
communication.

Mary
was a wise woman indeed. My only regret is I failed to keep in touch
with her. So... take what you will from this, and leave the rest. Such
as it is.

So...
one point I didn't make in the post above is any tendency towards
flowery, "poetic" language I may have had in the past was bred out of me
during my brief career as a technical writer. We're mostly about
"short and to the point" these days, and that serves me well. And you,
Gentle Reader? Mebbe not so much.

So there's that. And then there's this:

"The term, then, is obviously a relative one: my pedantry is your scholarship, his reasonable accuracy, her irreducible minimum of education and someone else’s ignorance."—H. W. Fowler, Modern English Usage

Saturday, March 22, 2014

I grind my teeth every time I see one of these frickin' ads...FOMOH? No. If you're gonna capitalize the "O" in "Fear OF Missing Out On Hockey," you should also capitalize the freakin' "O" in "On." So it should be FOMOOH... pronounced Pho-Moo... instead. Get a freakin' clue, NHL and/or Verizon. You're killin' me.In other news... it's the second intermission in the Wings-Wild game and the Beloved Wings are up, 2-1. Continue as you've begun, Boys.

Friday, March 21, 2014

We're feelin' a lot better than we did earlier, which is a function of our beautiful weather (72 big-ass warm, wonderful degrees and soft caresses of a gentle breeze), our first beer, and the music we're listenin' to. About which, this:

Click to embiggen, as always

I loves me Amazon's Cloud Player. One of the better things about it is the fact that some... just some, not all... of the albums I've purchased on Amazon are available in their entirety for our listenin' pleasure. You'll note that amounts, in my specific case, to 32 albums and 443 songs, which, when you choose the Cloud Player's shuffle-play feature, results in hours upon hours of great songs that you know and love. It also provides for some interesting segues... like RL Burnside to Emmylou Harris to Lyle to Johnny Winter to Dylan... and so on and so forth. The variety amuses me and greatly so. So... what have we heard most recently? This:

I don't want to hear a love song
I got on this airplane just to fly
And I know there's life below
But all that you can show me
Is the prairie and the sky

And I don't want to hear a sad story
Full of heartbreak and desire
The last time I felt like this
I was in the wilderness and the canyon was on fire
And I stood on the mountain in the night and I watched it burn
I watched it burn, I watched it burn.

That would be us when it comes to posting today, mainly coz we're in one of our "Meh" moods. We've read the overnight mail, reviewed the blog-feed, perused a limited amount of news-fodder, and nothing clicks. But Hey! There's always plane pr0n, right?

Bagram Nights

Air
Frame: A Halvorsen loader pulls away from a C-130J
Super Hercules at Bagram Airfield, Afghanistan, Feb. 11, 2014. The airfield is
the busiest single runway in the Defense Department. (Air Force photo by Capt. Brian Wagner)

OK. You can say it, I don't mind: that's a piss-poor example of plane pr0n. But it IS a cool photo whose subject just happens to be an airplane. I might have more later if or when my mood improves.

Thursday, March 20, 2014

Warren has to be first with these two-fers, seein' as how these are HIS songs...

She's so many womenHe can't find the one who was his friendSo he's hanging on to half her heartHe can't have the restless partSo he tells her to hasten down the wind

And Linda...

She tells him she thinks she needs to be freeHe tells her he doesn't understandShe takes his handShe tells him nothing's working out the way they planned

Ah, well... OK. Whatever.In other news... We'd be remiss if we didn't note today is the Vernal Equinox. Like this:

There are two equinoxes every year – in March and September – when the sun shines directly on the equator and the length of day and night is nearly equal. Seasons are opposite on either side of the equator, so the equinox in March is also known as the "spring equinox" in the northern hemisphere. However, in the southern hemisphere, it's known as the "autumnal (fall) equinox".

March Equinox in Portales, New Mexico, U.S.A. was onThursday, March 20, 2014 at 10:57 AM MDT

That would be the first day of Spring, of course. Our weather here on The High Plains of New Mexico is VERY spring-like today... which is to say warm (70 degrees) and breezy (~6 mph). It's damned near perfect out, actually, so let's get back out in it rather than wasting any more time at the keyboard.

In other news... We went to bed at an early hour last evening and as a result our eyes popped open at oh-dark-thirty this morning. I'm really not sure which is worse: staying up into the wee smalls or getting up at that hour. Each comes with its particular brand of drawback. Oh well... time for a refill.

Wednesday, March 19, 2014

So when you're lying in his armsThink of me and knowThe choice you made ain't free and clearIt cost me a heavy tollSit and thinkDrown in drinkAnd sing this sad, sad songYou can bring me flowers, babyWhen I'm dead and gone

I like Ray... a lot... what with owning three out of four of his albums. He does heartbreak songs pretty well and I like the instrumentation he provides, along with his lyrics. This particular tune is from his "Til the Sun Turns Black" album (arguably his best) and is representative of the things you'll find there. Good stuff, Maynard.We're reveling in the change in our weather and have spent the last two hours sitting in the sun out on the verandah. I think we'll pour us another beer and get right back out there... to continue as we've begun. Dang... life is SO hard, sometimes.

You'll note the "All time" box in the upper right corner is checked, so this means the five posts highlighted are the all-time page view champs here at EIP. I cannot, for the life of me, figure out why Number One has so many apparent page views. That 54,779 number is clearly bogus but that particular post is number one no matter if the criterion is all time, month, week, yadda, yadda. I just don't get it. So much for the mystery. But what drives real traffic?Well, just for drill, the all-time Top Four posts at EIP, counting up, are:

Tuesday, February 08, 2011

Again?

Yes,
again. Note the wind chill: six below. But I take comfort in the fact
that at least a few people are having a good time somewhere on the
planet at this moment... perhaps in the south of France, on some Greek
island in the Med, or down in Rio. Like this:

Puritanism
is sometimes defined as "the pervasive feeling that someone, somewhere
is having a good time" and hedonism is the exact opposite. You prolly
know which camp beach I'm in on, Gentle Reader.

The message? Titties get traffic. LOTS of traffic. The other message? EIP is primarily a blog for googlers. (sigh)

Monday, March 17, 2014

That peripatetic bon vivant and everyone's favorite commenter... Mr. Virgil Xenophon hisownself... said this in comments:

Buck/

OT, but have you any Mississippi Fred McDowell? (That was
part of the post blogger swallowed) PS: I know I've been distracted from
my promise to provide posts, but I'll alert you and your readers to two
new posts I''ll be sending you. The first, a one part called "A death
in New Orleans." and the second a two (or three) part post entitled:
"The Day in 1971 when the 78th TFS @RAF Woodbridge, UK., pulled the
functional equivalent of a (very serious) Mutiny" ( sort-of) And why the
"Big Kids" couldn't do anything about it.

Zounds! It's with bated breath we await the arrival of the long-promised guest posts.Peripatetic? Why, yes...

per·i·pa·tet·ic

adjective

adjective: peripatetic; adjective: Peripatetic

1.

traveling from place to place, esp. working or based in various places for relatively short periods.

We're early today due to a confluence of events... abed at 2130 hrs, up at 0530, and the magnificent weather here on The High Plains of New Mexico... so we called Happy Hour just about an hour ago. And then there's this, besides:

Apropos of almost nuttin', I've had this stuck in my head
all morning. So I'm counting on you to come up with a most excellent
Happy Hour Soundtrack today to chase that earworm back to hell.

Aiiieee! Well, OK, then. We're under the strictest of moral obligations here and it's incumbent upon us to do our best... and what passes for our best today includes two takes on the same song. First up is the original by Warren Zevon:

Well, I met a girl in West Hollywood
I ain't naming names
She really worked me over good
She was just like Jesse James
She really worked me over good
She was a credit to her gender
She put me through some changes, Lord
Sort of like a Waring blender

We relate to almost all of the above, except for the BDSM bits. I've never understood that aspect of sexuality... whatever floats yer boat, eh? But the blender bits? Oh, my... yes. Nearly every woman I've known in my life put me through that Waring blender. I don't regret a single minute, either.And then there's La Ronstadt, who made Warren's composition sort of a signature tune of hers.Oh, my... the images in that vid! Was Linda a hottie in her prime, or what? That brings to mind an event that happened in the way-back, wherein my best friend Chip and I were sitting in our lil house in Westby, Montana, listenin' to Linda during a late, late night of drinking and assorted other things when Chip gets this brilliant ideer that we should call Linda up and tell her just how much we love her. So, we tried. Long story short, La Ronstadt had an unlisted number (big surprise, eh?) and there was NOTHING we could do to convince the El-Eh operator to give us said number... and we most certainly tried. Oh, yes... we DID. That was prolly a great good thing, Gentle Reader.

All week, actually. Our beer and cigar consumption goes up dramatically with the increase in temps, most especially the cigar part. That's a direct reflection of the amount of time we spend on the verandah, of course, and it looks like we'll be out there a lot this week. Finest kind.Let's see... I thought I had something else. Oh, yeah! Today is the equivalent of Black Friday for the Guinness brewery. I'd wager more of that watery brew is consumed today than in any given month, otherwise. The other abomination seen today is green food coloring added to run-of-the-mill swill like Bud and Coors Lite, and I really can't decide which is worse: Guinness or green beer. We'll partake of neither today. We'll also be staying in this evening, for tonight is another one of those Amateur Nights, second only to New Year's Eve. I'll not be wearing any green today... mainly because I'm not Irish in any way, shape, or form... and that final note completes Buck's St. Patrick's Day Trifecta of Negativity.But... if you're really Irish or of Irish extraction: Happy St. Paddy's Day.

Sunday, March 16, 2014

Our tongue is firmly in our cheek with that "elegance" bit. That said, we do have our own personal style in garments. From November of 2008:

We’re currently in the midst of
a pretty good cold snap, as noted elsewhere and below. I kinda like
that because this is the time of year I get to drag various coats and
jackets out of the closet and renew my acquaintance with ‘em… an
acquaintance that goes back over 20 years in two cases and nearly that
amount of time in one other.Like
most guys, I don’t own a lot of outer garments. As I matter of fact, I
have five…which is probably a little bit more than most men. But two of
those garments are relegated to storage; I wear three outer garments on
a regular basis. Strangely enough… all three are military-issue items.
Today was the first day of the winter season that I wore my favorite
jacket… an M-65 field jacket.
(Full disclosure: I actually have two field jackets, only one of which
is still serviceable enough to wear in public. The other is really worn…
ripped here, torn there, the Velcro is gone, and it has all sorts of
grease stains and such on it. It’s worn as a work jacket… if it’s worn
at all, given as how I don’t do much “work” these days.)

My
daily-wear M-65 was issued to me in 1984, the year before I retired
from the Air Force. I knew I was gonna go, my retirement papers were in
and approved, and I wanted a new field jacket
to last me into retirement, as my old one was looking a lil bit the
worse for wear. So… I beat feet down to supply, requested a new field
jacket, got it, signed the receipt, and was on my way, a Happy Troop if
there ever was one. I’ve worn that jacket every winter since. You cannot
beat the thing for utility, what with its four large cargo pockets,
collar-concealed hood, a button-in polyfil lining that keeps you
oh-so-toasty, and the fact it’s waterproof… provided you give it an
annual spray-down with Scotchgard. And when it gets dirty? Just throw it
in the wash. That’s it. The M-65 looks damned good, it’s utilitarian,
and it’s low maintenance. What else is there?(Me and my M-65 in Yellowstone, May of 2000. It was frickin’ cold that day… and I was on the bike, too. But I stayed warm.)Well,
it turns out there IS something else. The M-65 is casual. VERY casual.
For more upscale occasions I wear my pea coat. (Don’t laugh… it’s true.
And I’m weird, I’ll freely admit.) My pea coat is The Real Thing
and not some sort of knock-off (one sees a tremendous amount of
knock-offs advertised as “Navy Issue” or some other such blather. Most
aren’t even close.) And how do I know my pea coat is real? Coz it used
to belong to SN2 when he was on the E-side of the Navy house (Pea coats
are only worn by enlisted sailors. Ossifers wear Bridge Coats [scroll down for pic]. I’m serious.). He gifted it to me the year he was commissioned… the culmination of literally years of me badgering him to “get me a pea coat!!1!!” And so he did.

I
love this coat. It, too, is quite versatile, and being 100% heavy wool
it’s also very warm… especially with the collar turned up. I’ve been
wearing my pea coat for about 15 years now, assuming I’ve done the math
correctly. From the looks of things I’ll probably get at least another
15 years out of it… maybe more. The thing simply doesn’t show wear at
all.

(Pic: Me, Grandson Sean, and SN1 on San FranciscoBay… an appropriate milieu for a pea coat, no? c. 2001.)Last,
but not at ALL least… My A2 flight jacket is perfect for Spring/Fall
weather and is the jacket you’ll see me in most frequently. My A2 is
over 20 years old and was made by Cooper, a firm that’s out of business
now but was the official supplier to the USAF, back when the Air Force
re-authorized the A2 for wear in the 1980s. The A2 I own is made of
goatskin and is the “older” design, which precedes newer gub’mint-issue
items manufactured after 1987. You can still buy the older model here (from Cockpit USA (formerly Avirex LTD), the current manufacturer and supplier of the A2 to the Air Force).
Or… if you prefer the current, updated model (which is visually
identical to the original A2 but has internal pockets)… you can buy that
here.

Digression:
The Second Mrs. Pennington about had a cow (man!) when I told her I
wanted this jacket in the way-back. She looked at the price and flipped
out… being the frugal woman she was and probably still is… telling me I could get something “just as good” for about half the price at any six stores in Detroit. But that wasn’t the point, I countered… “this is an official Mil-Spec A2!” And so it went… back ‘n’ forth. I obviously won the battle (I lost the war, but let’s not go there)
and I feel somewhat vindicated, too. The jacket has lasted lo these 20+
years and looks just as good as the day I bought it. Better, even,
since it’s acquired that patina one sees in old but well-kept leather.
Besides that… It’s Teh Quality, Gentle Reader.

(Further digression: TSMP and I had a “one hundred dollar rule,” meaning consultation was required prior
to purchasing anything over that amount. That’s a really good rule to
have in a relationship, btw. It stops a lot of arguments… not to mention
regrettable impulse-buys… dead in their tracks.)(Pic: Me wearing my A2… somewhere in the Wilds of New Mexico (which is shorthand for “I don’t remember”), c. 2004.) And
those other two outer garments? One is a Yuppie-looking windbreaker
with an oh-so-discreet EDS corporate logo embroidered on it. It’s nice
but it’s not me. I wore that thing rarely… most often to casual
corporate events back in the day where it was de rigueur to fly the flag. I don’t know why I keep it. Souvenir value, I suppose.

The
other item is a Burberry trench coat, another relic from corporate
days. It, too, is most versatile, warm (with the liner zipped in), good
looking in a “Bond. James Bond.” sort of way, and probably never will go
out of style. I love that thing (as much as anyone can “love” an
inanimate object), but it doesn’t quite go with the levis
and tee shirt ensembles that are en vogue around here. But: I can’t
bear to part with it and who knows? I may have to go to a funeral in a
cold rain some day. And if that happens… I’m ready. Well. That was much ado about not much, eh?